Study: 60% of Retailers Plan to Boost CRM Spending

Spending for customer relationship management will rise during the next two years, according to 60 percent of retail companies participating in the CRMretail Survey released yesterday.

Conducted for the National Retail Federation by Gartner in conjunction with Ogden Associates, the survey found that 54 percent of retail companies have already implemented one or more CRM applications and that the majority of the rest say they likely will within two years.

Seventy-two percent of respondents said they see CRM as an initiative that can extend their business and generate revenue.

Retailers also showed growing interest in a new range of applications and services, including various forms of personalized communications, customer-focused marketing at the store level, and personalized merchandise offerings.